Talking to God seems so natural to me, it’s almost second nature, but there was a time when it wasn’t always so easy. Talking to someone you don’t know is difficult and the same goes with God. I found ease in praying for others in times of crisis versus involving God in my everyday life. Sharing my ups and downs, disappointments, and sometimes anger at Him when my life was in disarray, didn’t feel like something I should be discussing. What could He possibly find interesting about my life compared to the universe? If you have similar thoughts, I will share three ways that helped me go from barely uttering a word to God, to talking to Him in a real and tangible way.
1. Finding Out Who God Is
For the longest time I thought God was just some Entity that was always ready to punish me. I’ve gone to church most of my life and the consequences of sin were mostly all I knew about God because I never looked further. If something went wrong in my life, I didn’t turn towards God; instead, I felt the need to run away, because surely, I was going to be punished. I was challenged years later to get to know God for myself. That was the beginning of my halt to running away. Once I began to study who God was through reading the Bible, I began to see God as more than someone just waiting to judge me. He was continually trying to draw me near. I dug deep to study His character, finding out qualities that show His distinctive grace and mercy that covers me daily. I challenge you to do the same.
2. Understanding God Wants Me to Talk
As I began to read His word, I found out He likes talking to His creation. Jeremiah 29:12-13 states “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” What a revelation, God wants to listen. This was just one of the many verses that opened my eyes to God’s desire to have conversations with me. I was beginning to realize that prayer was more than a formal act that occurred on Sundays and that I needed to engage Him more and more.
3. Building Our Relationship Our relationship took time to build and I still work on it every day. Praying to God has taken on new meaning because I realize how important our conversations are to my well-being. He wants to hear my struggles and my successes. He doesn’t punish me for being upset at Him, but I feel that He works that much harder to get me to understand what trusting Him throughout any circumstance looks like. My days go better and are so much smoother when I talk to and include Him in my day to day decisions.
My life, like everyone else’s, is full of ups and downs; but, the peace I feel as life comes my way has happened through no other form than talking to God. I hope my road of discovery helps you talk to God, because he wants to hear from you. Start building your relationship today. Read about Him, study His character; He wants to talk to you. I know you’ll find, just as I did, how natural it will become.
